November 2010

So, according to my photos, November of 2010 was dominated by our weeklong trip to Los Alamos to see Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving. I spent countless hours preparing for and stressing about the flights out there but everything went fine (especially because I got great advice from Laurie and Jessica about how to handle a toddler on an airplane). We sprung for a separate seat for Oliver on the plane since I felt that the best way to keep him still during the flights would be to have him strapped into his carseat.

It worked. He stayed relatively calm the whole time helped in part by crayons, new toys and a few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba on my iPhone. He was super excited to be going on a plane but wasn’t too excited about the idea of leaving the ground once we took off. He immediately grabbed my hand and demanded that I close his window shade. 

We got to Albuquerque late and then had the long drive to Los Alamos but O did great the whole time. He woke up a little early for my taste the first morning we were there but for the most part he was a really flexible easy-going traveler. We are so lucky for that.

We had a great time visiting with the grandparents. We went to the Santa Fe Children’s Museum and to the Caldera and the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. Oliver had a blast coloring with Grandma (she even managed to teach him his colors - he could recognize them all by the time we left and could say “blue” and “purple”). He also went on a few walks with Grandpa. (There are tons of pictures of all this in the November 2010 album).

Thanksgiving Day was also lots of fun. Oliver got all dressed up for the occasion but didn’t manage to actually eat any of the food that was prepared - in fact, he didn’t even manage to stay seated at the table for more than a few minutes. Oh, well, maybe next year. But look how cute he looked:

Before we knew it, it was time to head back home. Oliver did fine on the flights home but since they were so late he ended up spending the last half of the flight from Dallas to Austin in my lap trying to sleep. I’m not one to pass up cuddle time when it’s offered to me, though, so I didn’t mind.